asked the Minister for Labour if he will favourably consider giving financial assistance towards a hostel for young Kerry emigrants in London.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Kerry Emigrants in London.
13.
Grants from the Department's Vote for the provision of State assistance to voluntary organisations concerned with the welfare of Irish emigrants are paid only on the recommendation of DÍON — the London based committee which advises me on matters relating to emigrant welfare generally.
Accordingly, the application for financial assistance in respect of the Kerry London Association has been forwarded to the chairperson of DÍON so that the committee can consider it in the context of all applications which have been made and the committee's grants budget of £250,000 for 1988.
I request the Minister to advise the Minister for Labour that the Kerrymen's Association are providing a very essential service for young emigrants from County Kerry and the rest of the country in London at present. Is the Minister aware that they intend to extend their present accommodation to cater for 40 people? They are already providing a very useful advice service at their hostel. They are also providing counselling facilities and information on employment opportunities in London. I would like to remind the Minister that the resources of DÍON are stretched as it is and their budget of £250,000 is grossly inadequate to cater for the needs of emigrants in London at present. I appeal to the Minister for Labour to increase the amount of money allocated to DÍON for the coming year, 1989, so that applications for grant aid from organisations such as the Kerryment's Association can be met to some degree.
I think the Deputy has made his point.
Let me make one final point. In view of the fact that it is going to cost in excess of £400,000 to provide this hostel, I ask the Minister to seriously consider providing some aid towards this centre.
The Minister is aware of the work being done by the Kerry London Association and is aware that they are proposing to provide a new hostel for young Irish emigrants. He is also fully aware that the association already run another very good hostel in London and of the work they have been involved in. As I have already pointed out, applications are forwarded to DÍON as they are the organisation who evaluate the applications. Aid is usually provided in cases where urgent and emergency help is required by young Irish emigrants. As of now support is mainly provided to cover the cost of employing welfare staff rather than providing capital grants towards expenditure on projects such as the one the Deputy has outlined. I am aware that the Minister visited Camden in London at the end of May and met various organisations and bodies. As I have said, the Minister has limited finances at his disposal and the application in respect of the project which the Deputy is interested in is being forwarded to the chairperson of DÍON who advise the Minister in relation to expenditure in this area.
Would the Minister for the Marine request the Minister for Labour and his other Cabinet colleagues to increase funding for DÍON by at least 100 per cent in 1989?
Would the Minister agree that this type of development, in addition to that visualised in Question No. 19 is compelling? No doubt the Minister will have discovered, when he visited London, that 61 per cent of emigrants who travelled there last year travelled alone, that 34 per cent had less than £30 with them on arrival; that 70 per cent had less than £100 with them; that 57 per cent had made no definite arrangements for accommodation; that 17.5 per cent spent their first night there sleeping rough; and that 79 per cent became unemployed two months after arrival. Would the Minister agree that the least we might do is provide short-stay, basic accommodation for young Irish people who go there totally unprepared?
We are having an extension of the subject matter of this question. It is confined to emigrants from Kerry.
The Minister is also aware that a similar application has been made by the Mayo Association. On his recent visit to Camden Town he met some of the people involved in these organisations and is fully aware of the position obtaining. The present policy of the Department of Labour in relation to young people emigrating is twofold: first, the provision of pre-departure information and advisory services and the provision of skills and training for young people in order to dissuade them, if possible, from emigrating and to endeavour to find employment opportunities here. The Minister is fully aware of the very valuable and important work being undertaken by both the Mayo Association and the Kerry/London Association. He is fully cognisant of the need to develop the services there. But the concentration to date has been on dealing with urgent and emergency help for young people there rather than the provision of capital expenditure for the type of welfare projects the Deputies have in mind.
A very brief supplementary from Deputy Birmingham. We are now encroaching on the time allocated for Questions nominated for priority.
Given that the resources available to DÍON are so limited, given that there would be complete agreement on all sides of the House that the major problem facing young Irish emigrants in London is that of obtaining accommodation, would the Minister consider the possibility of looking for alternative resources of funding, including, for example, discussions with his colleague in charge of the national lottery to ascertain whether assistance could be given to these voluntary Irish organisations?
The question in relation to the national lottery should be addressed to the Minister of State at the Department of Education who was recently in London and the United States and has shown a particular interest in this area. I would suggest that Deputy Birmingham might address a question along those lines to him.
Would the Minister present raise it with his colleague?
Certainly, I will. I will bring the views of the three Deputies here to the notice of the Minister for Labour and the Minister for Sport, Deputy F. Fahey, who is already fully aware of the difficulties obtaining in this area.